The Immortal's Companions
by Willy Wonka is Wonking
Summary: What happens when you force together three forces of nature with a penchant for mischief, terrible puns and chaos? Well Lady Luck will be along for the ride, if not for the show then for a certain newly made immortal.
1. A Sickly Meet and Greet

Disclaimer: Alas, I own nothing. Maybe one day...

Green emerald eyes snapped open only to find them self looking directly into a dark swirling void. One confused and mildly terrified Harry James Potter jerked back violently from the turmoil only to realize he was floating... but that description wasn't right. Rather his body was drifting through darkness, he could discern nothing and could only wonder if this was what death felt like and that he would spend the rest of eternity drifting aimlessly through the bloated darkness.

**Nothing so boring as that Harry! **A masculine voice chirped from... somewhere.

He was unable to tell apart space, distance or location. Rather, it felt as though the voice was resonating from within him. Perhaps it came from within him and he was floating within his subconscious. He had never consciously explored his mindscape after all.

**Your first guess was closer. **The darkness seemed to pull in from around him leaving behind, pure, blinding, light as it morphed into an unfamiliar figure.

_Who are you?_ Harry tried to call out, surprising himself when his voice projected outwards and his lips remained firmly sealed.

**I have many names.** The silhouette said growing more and more detailed. The dark void splitting into two to form eyes.

_You must be spoilt for choice._ Harry all but growled growing more confused as snippets of memory came back to him.

**Oh I most definitely am. **It chuckled, it's face gaining more structure. Harry thought he could distinguish curled hair under the black film that covered it's body. **But please call me Death.**

_Death? _Harry spat. _You have got to be kidding me._

**Why would I Harry-boy, after all you are dead you know.** The dislocated voice said. Harry furrowed his brows. _What do you mean?_

**Don't you remember?** Death seemed to 'tsk'. **It was all too much for poor poor Harry. Fred's ghost acting as George's shadow, Severus' shade lost in the corridors of Hogwarts, the guilt for killing Beatrix. Not for justice,** death said, smiling grotesquely, **but revenge.**

_STOP IT!_ Harry yelled clamping his hands against both sides of his head as the waves of suppressed memories knocked away breath he shouldn't have. He had cracked under the pressure, he hadn't understood what the Deathly Hollows meant and when he took them... His sanity had cracked away piece by piece until he had flung himself willingly into the same veil Sirius had been pushed in by Beatrix, what seemed so long ago.

**So here we are** _**Master.**_ Death sneered, the black sheet receding from his newly formed body and into the endless pits for eyes. Harry looked up with a new sense of desperation at the face that smiley cruelly back at him. It was a familiar face yet it looked so horribly distorted under it's new personality.

_Tom?_ Harry breathed looking at the almost perfect replica of one Tom Marvolo Riddle, had it not been for the black pits that served for eyes and the uncharacteristic slouch. He was even dressed to look the part, in Muggle dress clothes, the Tom clone wore black slacks paired with a matching vest over a white shirt.

**A clone? How you wound me Master. I only appear as you wish me to.** Death seemed to taunt.

_Why would I want to see _his _face? _Harry all but growled.

Death only shrugged unsparingly before answering. **I may be death but I'm far from having all the answers. Maybe if you stop lying to yourself you would realize.**

Harry remained quiet a moment before asking very quietly, _why am I hear?_

**Ah yes, We are here because I am quite _un-pleased_ in your attempt to rid yourself of yourself.** Death said with a touch of annoyance in his voice.

_We're here because I tired to commit suicide._ Harry stated blandly to which Death nodded.

**Yes let's be blunt shall we. **Death said, grinning with Tom's face. **You see I don't like you and I imagine you don't like me.** He received only a stoney glare from Harry at his assumption. **But we're stuck together.**

_Why can't you just let me die? I'm your master right? _Harry growled.

**Yes well as refreshing as it would be to rid myself of your emotions after two years of your incessant guilt; you are my master. My _only _master. And to be blunt it's beyond my will. **Death shrugged.

_Is death not your domain?_

**Indeed. But you are guarded closely by more forces then one. Fate is amused by you and I think youd find Lady Luck is well... to be direct she's rather smitten with you.** Death sail with a wave of the hand as if he hadn't just admitted Luck's crush on Harry Potter.

_What?_ Harry said shocked.

**As much as coincidence enjoys spreading superstition you don't think you could survive through the ordeals like you did on your own?**

Harry was pensively silent. Had he always been a plaything to others above him. He was sick of it.

**Yes, yes I'm sure you are. Now we have a bit of a dilemma. **Death said wringing Tom's hands together. The fingers where long and almost spidery. Harry wondered if Tom played piano.

**No he didn't. I on the other hand...** Death trailed of with a suggestive wink causing Harry to pale. **But never mind that. Now you know the veil is a portal of sorts. Well you've fallen out the other side.**

_I- I what? _Harry mumbled eyes wide.

**I thought you might appreciate a 'heads up'.**

_Where am I?_ Harry asked.

**It's a parallel universe not much unlike your original one, much older of course. Magic is not in such abundance. The _muggle _technology, **Death hesitated before using the word**, is much more advanced. Quite interesting if I do say so myself- which I do.**

_What do you mean less_ magic? Harry asked his mind reeling with the vast spills of information.

**Your waking up Harry, **Death said with a small frown**, well I'll see you soon.**

At Harry's panicked expression as he slowly began to fade away Death only smiled widely, an unnerving smile with far too many teeth**. Don't worry Lady Luck wont let anything happen to you.**

_Wait Death, WAIT! _Harry yelled out reaching towards the fading figure as the world dissolved around him.

* * *

After what felt to be only seconds later, Harry's eyes fluttered open to a cloudless sky and hard tarmac under his back. He sat up with a start only to find he was in the middle of a deserted basket ball court. Looking around he could see nothing that would make him think he was in another world.

Where the hell had he landed himself this time?

* * *

A/N: So there's that. I've been reading a lot of Avenger Harry Potter crossovers where Harry is the master of death but all the deaths are just so... bland. There's not much here for the moment I know but if you persevere I'm sure I can dish out the semblance of a plot. This is likely to not be CANON and at the moment there's not much planing to how I'm writing this.

On another note, I was thinking of Sheogorath when I was writing Death.


	2. The Coffee Shop and the talking Shadow

Disclaimer: Alas, I own nothing. Maybe one day...

Harry was eternally grateful he was a wizard.

He found himself in a parallel universe where magic was as thinner then the air at the peeks of the alps. Not to mention he was in America.

It was a week after he had woken up in the deserted basket ball court and in the mean time he had managed to find himself a shitty flat that he had bought with money that he had attained in a completely legal fashion.

He was in the aforementioned flat now. He sat on the floor of the incredibly bare room, surrounded by cracking wallpaper and splintering floorboards. The only thing in the two room flat that wasn't bolted to the wall was a pile of blankets and pillows that served as a temporary bed. Harry's conscience was much too loud for him to fall asleep on furniture bought with stolen money. In any other situation he would have transfigured something into a bed but with the lack of magic in the environment to aid him the only power he was getting was from himself and he was still physically and mentally exhausted from his attempt.

That and he was pretty sure he was being stalked. He would be walking down the street in one of his many failed attempts at job hunting and he would see a flash of orange in his hind sight or the corner of his eye. He would turn around and find the street was empty apart for himself and the sport of orange would reappear when his guard would once again drop. It made for a bad nights sleep.

In fact he swore that when he opened woke briefly in the middle of the night brown eyes where staring back at him. He blinked and they where gone, but he couldn't brig himself to back into sleep's embrace after that.

He left the apartment at eight in the morning, setting out yet again to esquire in the streets for a job but with no resume or real identity in this world he was politely kicked out of shop after shop. He thought maybe his stalker was laughing at him now. Death would be.

It was half past two in the afternoon when he had all but given up that luck seemed to suddenly once again favor him.

He was sitting on a wooden bench opposite a small, homely cafe staring sullenly at his feet when someone sat in the space next to him a bit too close for comfort. He was about to get up before a feminine mused quietly from next to him:"Nice whether huh?"

For a second he almost expected the accent to be English. But it was american, though not so strongly accented as he was quickly getting used to.

Harry sat back down and glanced to his right, not really looking at the woman sitting next to him but seeing a small woman with ginger hair.

"Indeed." He said.

"I noticed you where looking for a job." She said still looking forward. This time Harry did turn to look at her only for a blanket of hair to shield his view of her face. "N-not that I've been following you or anything!" She stammered, Harry could see a pale ear turn red to match her hair. "Gossip of an English man looking for work is pretty much as interesting as there is at the moment."

"Are you implying I'm not interesting?" Harry asked.

"Yes, well n-no. Of course not!" Harry couldn't help the snort that escaped at the way she spluttered and the embarrassment that was clear in her voice.

"My name's Lucy and I was going to offer you a job." She said after a long pause. "But if this is what I get when I try being nice..." She grumbled to herself getting off the bench.

"Wait!" Harry exclaimed, standing up. "My name's Harry and I _really_ need a job."

Lucy paused a second before turning around a giant smile lighting up her face. "Awesome!" Had he not been shocked by the brown eyes that seemed uncannily familiar Harry would have rolled his eyes. Only an american would ever exclaim 'awesome'.

"Where to?" He forced out of his throat trying not to wonder if this woman, his stalker was going to lead him into some dark alleyway and murder him.

"Just there!" She said pointing at the cafe they had been sitting across from. Harry paused a second before following her. All his instincts screamed for him to get away from this woman, but when was an opportunity like this going to arise again? He shrugged internally, maybe she would kill him. If she did, he mused, hopefully she can do a better job then I.

He followed her into the shop.

* * *

As it turned out Lucy did not kill him, or try to rape him or even insult him. Instead she sowed him to the back, threw him an apron and showed him how to work the cashier. To his surprise Lucy was rather shy and her approaching him on the bench early had been a rare show of courage. She obviously preferred taking things from a distance.

Though he had already figured that much.

It was at eight when he was cleaning in the back that he noticed something peculiar. His shadow was not following his movements. It was still there which was something of a reassurance but rather than mimic him washing the dishes in merely stood with it's arms folded almost looking at him almost as if it where glaring at him. The darkness of the shadow much deeper then it should have been in the bright kitchen's lights.

**I wondered how long it would take you to notice**. A very familiar voice projected.

"Oh, you again." Harry grumbled putting down the dish.

**Yes, me.** Death said, as Harry's shadow began to warp until it formed the shape of one not-Tom Marvolo Riddle. Black pits staring into Harry's own eyes.

_Why are you here_? Harry thought not wanting Lucy to wander in and think Harry was talking to himself.

**No need for that Potter**. Death sneered.

"Why are you always so cryptic?" Harry hissed.

**Haven't you realized?** Death sighed.** I suppose it isn't that you don't know but rather that you don't want to know.**

"Know what?"

**Nothing Harry-bear, nothing at all.** A smile twisting Riddle's features. **I came to deliver a warning. **

Harry remained silent, waiting.

**Why don't you humor me? No? I guess next time you come asking me for help I'll simply rip out your eyeballs.** Death spat.

"Wait!" Harry called out as the shadow began to deconstruct it's self. The swirling mass of black froze.

**Yes Harry?** It asked, voice monotone.

"What is it that you wanted to warn me about?" Harry asked his back rigid at the way Deaths eyes stared at him, but at the same time right through him.

**Say Please Harry.** Death taunted. **Kids these days, no manners to speak of.**

Harry pressed his lips into a fine line, clenching his fists in anger. Death was mocking him?

The mass of black tendrils began to move again sinking back into his shadow, Death's eyes staring at him full of mirth. At least it no longer looked like Riddle, Harry thought with menace.

"Please!" Harry cried out just as it dissipated leaving him along in the kitchen.

He was left with an eerie chuckling at the back of his head and anger unfurling in the pit of his stomach.

What the hell was that?

* * *

A/N: Well I must say I did warn you about consistency. Thought's on Lucy?


	3. Fate's amusement and Death's discretion

Disclaimer: Alas, I own nothing. Maybe one day...

Per Lucy's instruction's Harry arrived at the "Petit Cafe American" at eight o' clock the next day only to find the woman working at the cafe was not Lucy, but another girl who's appearance made a foul taste linger in the back of Harry's throat. Harry shook off the feeling immediately, though wondering if it was just his brain second guessing that he could be surrounded by so many beautiful women. As a general when something was too good to be true around Harry, it was.

She was a small girl with unruly blonde and bright blue eyes and an enthusiasm that unnerved him.

"You must be Harry!" A boyish voice chirped upon his arrival at the shop. She had been setting up the outdoor chairs and tables at the time but had been doing so with a vigor that was almost unnatural. Again, Harry dismissed the thought.

"Yes, and you are?" He trailed off.

"My name's Ondine. You really are British aren't you?" Ondine said excitedly. "Your accent is _brilliant_" She said with a ridiculously over exaggerated flourish, probably mimicking something she had seen on american TV, Harry thought with a small amount of disgust.

"Yes well..." Harry said unsurely.

"Well Lucy will be here in ten minutes probably, she went to get some milk and eggs-we ran out- so in the mean time how about you go inside and start setting up. You remember how it was done yesterday right so just try to do that." Ondine rambled and before pausing suddenly as if wondering why Harry was still there. "It's unlocked." She added.

Harry nodded, making his own way into the shop to set up inside.

True to Ondine's word, Lucy showed up ten minutes later in a small white hatchback with ten liters of milk and two dozen eggs.

"So you met Cicce then." Lucy said sounding somewhat sheepish as she turned on the coffee machine.

"Cicce?" Harry asked confused before realizing. "Oh you mean Ondine."

"You warm up to her." Lucy said looking away from Harry, Harry got the distinct impression she was blushing.

"No, she was..." He hesitated looking for a word to sum up what he had seen of 'Cicce'.

"She's unique, very enthusiastic." he amended.

Lucy seemed to deflate. "Oh good, I didn't want you two to get off on a bad foot." Harry inwardly winced at Lucy's mangling of the expression, outwardly only smiling at Lucy who in turned blushed.

"Excuse me, I have to go clean i-in the back." Lucy said abruptly ending the conversation. Harry stared after her, noticing the way even her forehead had turned the same pink.

He only nodded giving a stifled "sure" wondering why he in turn was also blushing.

* * *

Harry could not catch a break. It seemed like a 'normal' day was unobtainable.

He had clocked off at two much to his relief and Ondine's disappointment. Ondine had spent the early afternoon spewing a differentiating knock knock jokes at him, all of which where terrible. It was when he had walked into his flat, greeted by the same vacant room and smell of dust that he found himself doubled over in pain.

His head seemed to be splitting, the pain pulsed inward from his forehead whipping all thought from his mind and leaving only pure, unadulterated agony. He pushed his rather flimsy occlumency shields together forcing out the initial assault on his mind feeling as though his brain had just been raped.

His breath came in short and unsteady breaths from where he was collapsed on all fours, his forehead pressed against the uncomfortably cool floor. The pain had dulled to a distracting throb that he tried to ignore as he regathered his bearings and wondered almost violently what the fuck had just happened.

He looked up un-surprised when he saw the disgustingly handsome face of Riddle staring down at him, Death's eyes void of emotion.

"Fuck off." Harry growled forcing himself to sit up despite the growing nausea he could feel as he did so not wanting to be week in front of this thing.

**Harry dearest, no manners as always.**

"Was this what your warning was? Or did you do this yourself?" Harry yelled, not caring if anyone heard him yelling at what to them would be nothing. Death's face froze, twisting from it's icy mask to a feral grin making harry's anger shrink only to be replaced by fear.

**Selfish brat aren't you? **Death said his voice even.** If I hurt you, you would most definitely know it was I.**

**No, what you felt was the passing of ten thousand, three-hundred and sixty-two people due to an explosion that shouldn't have happened.** Death said, anger taking over his voice. A second later Death had slammed Harry into the floor, one had tigtly wound around Harry's throat, the other pressed against his forehead pressing his head to the ground. Death had pinned Harry's arms to his sides with his knees and leaned over Harry menacingly.

**No, my warning was that WE are hiding in plain sight and there are many TRUE immortals who do not like the idea of a human on level with them.** Death yelled with uncomfortable pressure on Harry's throat.

"What do you think?" Harry said quietly meeting Death's eyes squarely.

**You are my responsibility**. Death said after a long moment before tightening his grip on Harry's throat but moving the hand from Harry's forehead.

He produced a switch knife from the pocket of his jacket and pressed the flat of the blade against Harry's cheekbone.

**Remember Master, Dearest; You are immortal but you are far from invincible.**

And with that, Death plunged the knife into Harry's eye.

* * *

A/N: I'm home sick at the moment. I had my wisdom teeth removed a month ago and found out yesterday I got an infection. So I'll probably be updating a lot.

I'm not sure where this story is going, I'm sort of plodding it out as I go along but any suggestions: which characters you want to see more of, how soon do you want the avengers crew introduced, possible love interests ect... I don't have problems writing about anything so all suggestions are welcome and wanted.

On another note when I wrote this chapter I found I had 40 favorites and 84 followers which is really cool. So thanks a lot to anyone who reads this, it means a lot.


	4. Familiar Faces and Pinatas

Disclaimer: Alas, I own nothing. Maybe one day...

As the switch blade descended, Harry found a burst of energy powered only by adrenalin and fear of pain. He pulled his arms out shielding his face, ignoring the pain of the cold metal biting into the meat of his forearm; instead using his newly freed arm to push Death off of him and jump to his feet. Death was only a second behind him, jumping to his feet with fists raised.

Harry delivered a right hook missing Death's cheekbone by and inch, instead clipping his nose which resounded with a satisfying crunch. Death recoiled with the hit as though shocked at the idea of pain. He was back in motion a second later but Harry used this moment of hesitation to pull his wand to where it was biting into Death's Adams apple.

"Impedimenta!" Harry yelled the spell hitting Death at point blank range knocking him to his knees forcing Death to stare up at him.

**Is this what you want then Harry?** Death spat black magic curling around his fingers. **To rule death?**

"Get out of my sight." Harry hissed dangerously his wand now pointing to where Death's heart would be- assuming he had a heart.

Death sneered at Harry his eyes narrowing dangerously as he stood up ignoring the effects of the immobilization spell before nodding his head to Harry. It wasn't much but it was a slither of respect. Something in their shuffle had proved something to Death.

**Of course Master**. Death said disappeared instantly, Harry only trusted the silence once he turned to his shadow, looking into where his eyes would be and seeing nothing. Harry exhaled letting himself slump against the wall and looking down at the knife protruding from his forearm.

With a loud grunt he pulled the knife from his arm dropping the object instantly where it landed with a loud clatter. He redrew his wand pointing it to the wound and in canted "Vulnera Sanentur" two times waiting for the wound to seal up. To his surprise it had completely vanished by the second time he cast the spell, the only mark of the injury was the blood staining his forearm and the bloody knife on the floor.

He lent over to pick up the switch blade wiping the blade on the corner of his shirt seeing it was already strained in blood. Testing it twice he decided to keep it, putting the knife in his right back pocket, close to where he kept his wand. It never hurt to have an extra weapon up your sleeve, besides who else could brag they had claimed Death's personal switch blade?

* * *

He left the apartment not five minutes later, the switch blade fit snugly in the pocket of his jeans. He scowled at the unfamiliar weight on his thigh. He didn't know where he was going at this point, he just needed a breather. He thought he'd gotten rid of his problems. There was no pressure for him to be Harry Potter the 'boy who lived', no expectations. He thought he had managed to find a clean slate.

But of course he'd fucked it up; barely a week in this new universe and he had managed to piss of death and numerous other ethereal beings. It was a bit much in such a short time frame. It felt like anything dangerous in a ten kilometer vicinity was drawn to him.

Harry found himself in a dimly lit park, his head dropped into his hands breathing in the night air heavily. He hadn't realized how fully the stink of smoke had seeped into the walls of the apartment or the way it seemed something was almost smoking, steaming or breaking. Whether it be a microwave oven or the useless gas heater he hadn't managed to get working once.

He frowned burying his head further into his hands.

The universe wouldn't let him have the privilege of sulking however and only a second later he heard a loud scream fill the completely abandoned park. Harry's head shot up instantly looking for the source of the noise, the scream only getting louder as he looked around frantically trying to spot the cause in the darkness.

He looked up.

With an expression of pure astonishment Harry was almost too shocked to whip out his wand and stop the metal golem from crushing him with a half-yelled "Wingardium Leviosa".

The metal monstrosity stopped only inches away from Harry's head. Looking up, the golem looked almost as shocked at him.

He blinked twice, trying to clear the idea of a metal golem showing emotion- it didn't even have a face,

He very slowly moved it from above him to the ground, releasing the spell when the golem was only inches above the damp soil. It fell to the ground heavily, the soft soil sinking under it's weight.

In the dim light he could see that the golem was a mixture of bright red and gold.

He cocked his head to one side wondering what sort of madman would think to _paint _a golem. It looked vaguely familiar for some reason he couldn't identify. He continued to stare at the golem wondering how it had almost managed to crush him. Maybe this was death's revenge. Otherwise how else would a magical creature appear in a non-magical world.

A brightly colored hand moved, Harry flinched backwards before realizing that the golem was raising it's hand to it's face. It then proceeded to rip it's face off... to reveal a man.

Oh a suit of armor, Harry thought, well that certainly made more sense.

The face that stared out of the metal suit was completely foreign to him.

"You, are you a magician or something?" The man asked, well yelled, at Harry his strong american accent throwing Harry off guard.

"A magician?" Harry scowled. "You must be crazy."

"Oh come on you can't act like nothing just happened. Iron Man just fell out of the sky and almost crushed you!" He continued to yell.

Harry narrowed his eyes. There was no Statute of Wizarding Secrecy here but that didn't mean he was going to volunteer the fact he was a wizard left and right. Even if it meant stubbing this arrogant man to his face.

After all who was the crazy one in this situation?

"Iron Man?" Harry asked looking at the metal suit skeptically."Is that why you look like you're dressed for mardi gra? "

"Why you little British scumbag!" The man scowled.

Harry straightened himself up to his full height, easily towering over the man, who's scowl only deepened.

"Compensating for something are we?" He mocked, laughing when Harry went slightly red but refused to break eye contact.

"Who are you?" Harry asked.

"What you don't know?" He teased making Harry's instant dislike of him to grow.

"Tony Stark." He introduced himself curtly. "So who are you magician?"

"I am not a magician." Harry almost growled. "I am a wizard. I do not perform cheep parlor tricks for children."

Tony's smirk only widened at Harry's reaction.

"Harry."Harry answered shortly a second after his slip.

"Well Harry the magician, it's nice to meet you." Tony said with an easy smile, not missing the way Harry's eyebrow ticked.

"Nice to meet you too Tony the pinata." Harry replied with the most pleasant smile he could muster.

"So you want to tell me what it was you just did?" Tony asked.

Harry only smiled. "Would you like to explain why it was you almost fell on my head?"

It was Tony's turn to blush, though Harry didn't know why.

"I asked first." Tony retorted.

Harry coughed out a strangled laugh. "What are you five?"

"Answer the question."

"I don't want to."

Tony only slipped into the same annoying smile as earlier. "And who's being immature now Magician?"

"I am not a magician." Harry said through clenched teeth.

"Oh and what was that trick earlier?"

"Why where you falling out of the sky like some sort of flying death trap?"

The glaring continued.

"I don't even care!" Harry said throwing his hands up.

"What do you mean, hey wait-" CRACK

"Oy magician!" Tony yelled into the empty park. "You can't just leave me hanging!"  
"Hey!"

* * *

A/N: So that ended on a lighter note I hope. To those who are reading this and are shocked I will warn you I am terrible at action scenes (see first paragraph) and the humor in this will be rather slow and even then I'm not sure if it will meet up to peoples expectations.

A warning, this is listed as HORROR and under M as from what I have planned out there is some psychological torment and physical abuse as well as a bit of depression and some very unhealthy relationships.

I know this wasn't long enough to make up for a lack of updates on my part but I'll be updating more often with the holidays.


	5. Inquisitive Robots and Underage Wizards

Tony didn't know what to think.

He was left stranded in the middle of a park in a barely functioning iroman suit. He said barely functioning because he was still able to move his limbs rather then collapse into a heap under the weight of the metal suit. He slid the face of his iron man helmet back on, he had to salvage this somehow.

Thankfully enough, when he clicked the gold plate back into place the suit began to come back to life, jerkling suddenly as it came back to full power.

_Sir, your ironman suit was all but shut down and at 10% power. The suit is now resuming normal functions. _JARVIS reported dilligently as the iron man suit buzzed back to life.

"Yeah, I noticed. What caused the malfunction?" Tony said.

_I am unable to determin the source of the malfunction._

"Why not?" Tony almost growled. He could not have his suit shut down randomly, or else the armor whould become a walking death trap. His mind flew at a hundred miles an hour; it didn't seem to be something mechanical, he diagnosed from the suit rebooting almost instantly after the magician had disappeared, had someone managed to hack his dataframe?

_I am unable to disern what happened. The suit stopped functioning. All connections where cut and roughly the last thirty hours of memory are curropt._

"Any ghosts in the system?" Tony asked, taking off, flying directly to Stark tower.

_None, sir. There is no trace of a haker in the system. The only malfunction was the one that you where privy to._

"Harry..." Tony muttered under his breath, like a curse. He looked foreward at the distant Stark tower.

_Am I to assume I know this Harry Sir?_

Tony scoffed. "Didn't I program you smarter then that JARVIS?" Tony reproched

_Of course sir. _JARVIS said after a moment. _Ms. Potts wishes to speek with you._

"Put her on."

Only a second later Tony heard a soft click.

"What the hell was that Tony!" She all but screamed in his ear startling Tony so much he all but jumped out of his suit.

"Pepper." He said in a very small voice.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous that was, the data feed from your suit was completely cut, the suit's power was at ten percent! Do you realise what almost happened, you would have been crushed by the..."Pepper trailed off into noisy sniffles. Tony winced at the sound landing on Stark Tower.

"Pepper." He mumbled again as his suit atomatically peeled of off him as he walked into the penthouse only to find Pepper in tears.

"Tony you fucking idiot!" She yelled out as he walked into the room.

Looking at Pepper crying he could only stand there awkwardly, unsure where to place his hands. He ended up folding them in front of his chest as Pepper continued yelling profanities at him.

"Look Pepper, i've got as little idea to what happened as you do, just... calm down ok." Tony said not meeting her eyes.

Pepper squeezed her eyes shut, scrunching up her face and a second later she was composed and whiping the drying tears from her face with the back of her hand.

"What happened out there Tony?" She asked.

"I've got no idea." Tony said, sagging as he noticed Pepper had reigned in control of her emotions. He wasn't good at dealing with fealings. Pepper had always been his source of comfort but it was the first time he had ever seen the woman cry.

"So the suit just stopped?" Pepper asked raising an eyebrow. "Was it defective, one of the new prototypes you've been working on?"

"No, it failed. No warning. The only thing that kept it going was the backup battery." Tony said.

"You can't have your suit just failing on you like this. What happened Tony?"

"I don't know! Look when the suit fell I landed in central park, almost fell on this kid. Harry. Said he was a wizard or something but..."

"Wait, back up a second, we have a roge wizard running around New York." Pepper said, her voice all but dripping with scepticism.

"How old did you say this kid was?"

Tony shrugged and looked at his feet almost sheepishly realising how dumb he sounded. "He couldn't have been older then twenty-one."

"You know I don't blame the kid. Cocky, celebraty almost turns him into a human pancake. He has to say something impressive." She said a smirk finding it's way on her face.

"Look I know it sounds ridiculous..." Tony trailed off," but I have proof! The video recordings from the suit. The kid, he teleported!"

"He teleported? Why would he do that?"

"... He didn't like to be called a magician."

The room was quiet for what felt like a minute before Pepper broke out into uncontrollable laughter.

"Your telling me," Pepper said between giggles," that you pissed this kid off so much... he teleported _away_ from you."

Tony scrowled, ignoring the blush he could feel creeping in from his neck. he was the one who made jokes at other peoples expense damnit!

"Ah, Tony, I hate to burst your bubble." Pepper said whiping tears from her eyes, this time of mirth, "but the camera got messed up in your fall, and even if it didn't everything isgone."

"Everything?"

"I had JARVIS check." Pepper said not able to suppress a small smile.

_The last twent-eight hours of data contained in the suit is unsalvagable._

Tony felt like hitting his head against a wall.

"JARVIS start scanning the city's files on civilian population. We're looking for a boy between eighteen and twenty. Black hair, tall- one eighty I think. British.

_Yes sir._

* * *

I'm sorry for this pathetically short chapter but I'm having difficulty writing this. I know where I want to go with this fic but I'm not sure how to get there. Also I really dislike this chapter but it is rather important in the grand scheme of things. (I hope you'll forgive me .)

Thank you for all your feedback!


	6. Of coffee and Coincidence

Pepper Potts was reading through the last marketing reports when she heard a large crash followed by a groan.

"Tony?" She yelled out, looking up from her papers.

"Pepper can you go get some coffee." Tony yelled back.

Pepper closed the file as she heared another crash this time followed by the grinding of metal against metal.

She raised one eyebrow as she walked into the kitchen. Tony was crouched infront of a pile that was probably once the coffee machine.

"What happened here?" She asked.

"Just ah, bit of an experiment." Tony said, giving her his that-was-suppost-to-happen smile.

"Coffee then."

"You're a life saver Pepper."

"You know other people just sleep." Pepper pointed.

"Sleep," Tony said abruptly standing up and looking her dead in the eye, "is for the weak."

Pepper couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips as she turned around to grab her ourse.

"I think you're loosing your touch." She said trying to keep the smile from her voice.

"What do you mean?" He asked glancing at Pepper who was retreating to the elevator.

"This is two in one week." Though something always seemed to be blowing up in Stark Tower.

Pepper didn't even attempt to hide her grin at the curses she heard Tony spew out as the elevator doors closed.

* * *

She wasn't paying much attention as she walked down the street, Tony was never very particular about his coffee as long as it was strong. She on the other hand always tried going somewhere different, trying out different coffees or deserts.

It was refreshing to not be cooped up in Stark Tower, recently it had felt as though the only time she went out where on buisness reports and negotiations, or if Tony did something spectacularly stupid.

A frown touched her lips; it was depressing to think that the occassional coffee run was the only thing keeping her from going stir crazy.

She was so distracted she didn't even notice the small woman in front of her until she was all but sprawled ontop of her.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Pepper said quickly collecting herself and helping the woman up.

She was a very small woman, at least half a head shorter then Pepper, with spikeybrown hair and sharp green eyes. Looking at the woman, Pepper took a minute to collect herself. The woman looked so much like her sister in law but...

"No problem, no problem at all." She said giving Pepper an easy smile before leaning over to pick up what she dropped, two cooler bags full of milk bottles.

"Milk?" Pepper voiced before she even realised she spoke.

"Yeah, we ran out at the cafe I work at. I'm on a milk run." She explained.

"I'm on a coffee run." Pepper said back. "Do you need any help with that?"

"That would be wonderful. My name's Ondine." She said passing one of the bags.

"I'm Pepper. Nice to meet you. Sorry for bumping you over, I was... in a bit of a daze." Pepper said looking at Ondine.

To her suprise Ondine just laughed.

"Me as well, here we are," Onine said pointing at a small shop," the petit cafe."

"Come in, I'll make you a coffee- it's on me."

Pepper smiled.

There was near no one in the cafe. Two people stood behind the counter talking sedatedly, a woman sat in the corner of the cafe, a book in her hands, smiling as she read.

Ondine took the coller bag from Pepper slipping into the back of the store as Pepper sat down at a table looking around the shop. She ended up staring at the fire place on the furthest wall from the counter, watching the flames as the flickered behind a intricate metal door.

Ondine reappered.

"So what can I get you?" Ondine asked, tying a black apron around her middle.

"A cappuchino sounds lovely."

"Sure thing." She said.

As Ondine began working the coffee machine, Pepper turned her attention back to the two employees talking. One was a tall black haired woman, who was very obviously flustered. Probably a crush then, she thought looking at the man standing next to her.

He was also tall, with black hair and thick lensed glasses. They could have probably passed for siblings were it not for the man's briliant green eyes where as the woman had flat grey eyes, the color of slate.

"What's wrong?" She heard the man ask in a strongly accented voice, he sounded some sort of English but Pepper had never been good at identifying accents.

"Nothing is wrong!" The woman bit back.

"You've been acting strangely all morning."

"You noticed?" She asked, turning a deeper shade of red, Pepper noticed even her ears where a light shade of pink. Some serious crush then.

"Lucy, I'm not dumb I-" "One cappuchino." Ondine said distracting Pepper and giving her a meaningful look.

Pepper blushed at being caught evesdropping. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Oh don't you clam up too. After it's these two's fault." Ondine said all too loudly. "Talking about their relationship so loudly in a public venue."

The man just looked at Ondine strangely, a look half between amusement and anoyance; where as the woman, Lucy, looked like she would faint on the spot when Ondine spurt the word 'relationship'.

"Oh dear." Pepper said hiding a smile under her right hand, as the boy turned his attention back to Lucy and asking if she felt alright because she 'looked quite faint'.

"Harry's terribly obtuse." Ondine comented sitting down across from Pepper with her own drink.

"Poor girl." Pepper muttered before taking a sip from her drink.

"This is wonderful." She complemented making Ondine smile widely. She almost recoiled at the flash of teeth, the grin seemed almost feral.

"No problem." Ondine said.

"You where on a coffee run right? Where do you work? You seem familiar." The last sentance was thrown in as an afterthought.

"Um, I work as a partner at Stark industries."

"Oh! That's right I saw you one the news once. Pepper Potts right?"

Pepper only nodded.

"I suppose it's not fair that I know your full name and you don't know mine: it's Ondine Cicce. I am as unfamous as I imagine your job is boring." Ondine said.

"My job is not boring!" Pepper defended.

"Of course it isn't." Ondine humored her. "Well the manager of this place is Lucy over there and ever since we've got the new emplye she's a bit in the clouds." Ondine said with an amused expression.

"I suppose it's ok though, it's been pretty quiet around here lately."

"What do you mean?"

"Well truth be told, this is the most people we've had in the shop for a week. I guess the novelty of the new employe has lost it's value." Ondine said. Pepper was silent, she felt as though she'd missed something. Rather then respond, she finished her coffee.

"So what will you need for your boss?"

"Sorry?"

"I imagine you'll still need to complete the coffee run." Ondine said picking up both of their cups.

"Ah yes, two of the strongest things you can make." Ondine blinked.

"Well that leaves lots of room for improvisation."

"He's not fussy." Pepper commented.

Ondine smiled sweetly.

Pepper walked out five minutes later holding two 'black eye's.

A/N: I know it doesn't make much sense now but maybe we're finally getting into the swing of things. At the very least I'm dropping bread crumbs left and right.


	7. Illusions and Magic Tricks

"Finally your back!" Tony yelled out as the doors to the workshop slid open.

"Yes, sorry for taking so long." Pepper said holding two disposable cups of coffee.

Tony pulled away from the workbench, taking off his safety helmet and snapping off his gloves before wiping his blackened hands on his apron.

"Finally, my caffeine!" Tony said taking both cups, drinking one after the other.

"What are you working on?" Pepper asked looking at the untreated steal and what seemed like random piles of electrical wire. She had once made the mistake of saying Tony's workshop was a mess before; he had somehow memorized the completely random assortments of stuff, that made walking a straight line further then five meters all but impossible.

"Had a couple new ideas for the next iron man suit. It's not working out quite right." Tony said handing the foam containers back to Pepper, sparing her the details= she wouldn't have understood any of it anyway.

"Don't over work yourself." Pepper said.

Tony made a non-committal sound before turning back to his workbench.

_Sir, I have gained information o your Wizard._

"What is it JARVIS? Did you find anything in the S.H.I.E.L.D data?" Tony yelled out, his mind instantly taken over by his curiosity on the new player.

"You had JARVIS HACK S.H.I.E.L.D?" Pepper muttered angrily. Tony either missed it or ignored it; listening instead to JARVIS's response.

_Negative sir. I found footage of a man matching your somewhat sparing description. _

A flat screen television that Pepper didn't even know existed flickered to life in the corner of the room. It was rather grainy security camera footage from the outside of a seedy looking apartment.

A young man walked into the scene, his hands shoved into his pockets, he walked to the entrance of the apartment building and as if sensing he was being watched looked up, staring straight into the camera.

Despite the bad quality of the footage, Pepper could easily make out bright green eyes.

The second passed and the young man walked into the building, the shot flicked to black after three seconds.

Pepper scrunched her eyebrows together, she had seen him, recently even but she couldn't place her finger...

"Harry!" She gasped.

"Yes, yes I know that." Tony said pulling out his cellphone.

"I saw him!" Pepper exclaimed.

"You what now?"

"Yes, just now when I went to get coffee. He was one of the employees." Pepper said. "How could I have missed that, they even said his name was Harry."

"And that just slipped your mind?" Tony accused.

"Look I wasn't expecting to accidental find your wizard alright." Pepper frowned. "Look, we can go to the coffee shop. Maybe we can catch him before his shift ends."

"Alright, let's go!" Tony said already walking quickly towards the elevator. Pepper followed, pausing briefly to dump the coffee cups of the floor.

"You're sure that it was him right?" Tony asked.

"Yes of course I am. I recognized him as well as you did."

"You didn't when you saw him not half an hour ago." Tony said as the elevator opened in the garage.

"Yes well I wasn't paying much attention to him or his girlfriend." She huffed.

"You where paying enough attention to notice him and his girlfriend."

"Tony." She said warned.

He sighed quietly.

"I'll drive." He said, taking the keys from her. She nodded and slid into the passenger seat.

"Do you remember where the place is?" Tony asked.

"Of course I do. I'm not inept." Pepper snapped. "I'm sorry, just..."

"It's alright." Tony said flashing Pepper a smile. "Don't worry about it."

Pepper smiled, sliding her hand over Tony's on the gear stick and giving it a small squeeze. He flipped his hand over, holding hers.

"Look, I- I'm sorry for being so irritable lately it's just-"

"I understand." Pepper said, meeting Tony's eyes and holding his hand tightly trying to convey her feelings before slipping her hand out of his and letting it fall limply to her lap.

"So about that business trip to D.C..."

* * *

It didn't take long until they found the shop however it was as far from Pepper's memory as was possible. She walked over to the husk of the shop in a state of shock.

"I- I don't understand." She said. "There was a cafe here, not an hour ago and this place..."

The petite cafe was empty, much more so then it had been earlier. Not even the cafe's sign was spared, it hung crooked the wood near rotted through.

Peering through dust-stained glass Pepper could make out the inside of the shop. There was no furniture other then the table she had remembered sitting at earlier. The fireplace which had burned so brightly was brimming with ashes that pooled around it.

Cobwebs and dust lay undisturbed except for on the counted where a empty cup sat. It was a pastel blue, the exact same cup she had drunk coffee out of, yet when she tried to open the door the handle was rusted stiff.

"I-I don't understand." She repeated. "There was a shop here earlier. This is the place I got your coffee from. We still have the disposable cups right? It had the name printed on them!"

"Pepper, don't worry." Tony said placing a hand on her shoulder.

"That's one hell of a magic trick."

* * *

A/N: Yes this is short very short, so I updated it with the other chapter so at least you'll have something substantial to sit on. This is important and I'm not sure if I've been to vague or too direct about everything so feedback would be excellent at this point.

So if you want to figure out what's going on it's all in there, well maybe not all there quite yet but almost. You'll see I suppose.

Hurrah for 200 follows! That is an epic number and I hope I can hold up any expectations you may have.

Like I said feedback, criticism, ideas... I'm still really mapping this out as I go along so any help would be wonderful.


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